106.1 The Breeze

The Breeze has debut today at 12pm with 10,000 songs in the row!!!

The Christmas music was a stunt!

nkd said:

The Christmas music was a stunt!

Click to expand...

B101.1 flipped to Christmas at 10. 106.1 the Breeze launched at noon.

It seems like B101.1 flipped a day or two earlier than normal? Otherwise, it's par for the course. Let's see if there's any marketing for 106.1 and if they can take any small chunk of listenership from B101.1

So they did exactly what I said Friday that they should do. As soon as the B flips, start up the Breeze and steal all those listeners who hate Christmas music. Now let's just hope iHeart actually does some promotion so that those listeners know to dial up to 106.1. Otherwise, it will be pointless. Let's see lots of social media and TV ads.

B101 definitely went early. Most years it’s been more or less the equivalent of this coming Wednesday or so. Usually with more of a flourish. So be it...now we see how things really shape up.

B101 usually flips the third week of November. They're about 10 days early

Third week, yes, but the quirks of the calendar means the second full week of the month also happens to be the week before Thanksgiving, by virtue of having the first on a Thursday.

So if you measure by typical proximity to Thanksgiving, this is a bit closer to normal. Still early, but there’s more to contemplate than the numeric value.

AbrahamJSimpson said:

Third week, yes, but the quirks of the calendar means the second full week of the month also happens to be the week before Thanksgiving, by virtue of having the first on a Thursday.

So if you measure by typical proximity to Thanksgiving, this is a bit closer to normal. Still early, but there’s more to contemplate than the numeric value.

Click to expand...

Based on what they've done in the past and considering Thanksgiving this year is the earliest in the month it can possibly be, B101 would have flipped no earlier than this coming Friday and possibly not until the day before Thanksgiving. They definitely made a reactionary move but really, what choice did they have? It was already on at two listenable spots on the dial.

They already had the super fancy holiday version of the logo, so they definitely had to move.

I’ve been listening to 106 since about a half hour in. It’s about what’s to be expected. A few songs I’d pound another button with lightning speed to get away from and perhaps never come back were it not for curiosity. Not my cup of tea by a long shot, but I’m not who they want. I feel like the voice imaging could be a little more....I don’t know what exactly. Stronger? Deeper? It fits the wallpaper idea, but perhaps too well, if that is even possible.

Maybe there really is a decent yearning for Juice Newton and Air Supply. More power to ‘em if there is.

Maybe they should have gone all retro and brought back WISH 106.

Well, we certainly didn't have anyone playing "Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton. Yet to be seen whether we needed it. LOL.

I wasn't expecting anything quite THIS soft. I hope they put some local research behind this or I can see them having another big old bust on their hands!

BTW: They followed Juice Newton with "Perfect" by P!nk. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. So I'm just gonna switch back to B101 now...

I’ll say so far the transitions haven’t bothered be, but I’m also a creature of variety hits and the decades channels on XM, so I’m really not startled by much. If this really is background music at work, I doubt it will register much.

The next time I have root canal, this may be what I ask for on the office radio, though.

Miguelito said:

I wasn't expecting anything quite THIS soft. I hope they put some local research behind this or I can see them having another big old bust on their hands!

Click to expand...

I had listened to San Fran's 98.1 The Breeze a bit before this launch.... it seems like the Philly Breeze has a touch more R&B flavor to it. I could be wrong, but it at least seems that way.

So you’re a target listener for 101. And you’re the proverbial outlier who isn’t in the ho-ho-holiday spirit, at least yet. Through whatever magical means, you hear 106 is throwing back in a whole different way, and check it out.

Now...is is all that likely you’re hearing something that’s going to keep you coming back? The entire temp and texture are a 180.

I’m not discounting that there are some folks who,stuck with 101 through inertia or lack of alternatives. But you now need to pry them loose from a solidified habit. That’s not an easy lift. Doable, but not necessarily easy.

This, so far, reminds me of those circa early 90s “Night Light” type shows before the rise of Delilah. Just all day long.

DavidEduardo said:

There is no guarantee to the strategy, as the target is women, and if you look at the results in similar markets, the AC that goes all-Christmas tends to just about double its cume, sucking in women from lots of other formats while keeping their core listeners.

There is a case to be made that says "core female AC listeners are also Christmas music listeners and there are few outliers who want non-Christmas AC during the season".

Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't see the logic in not trying to share that Christmas audience but they were putting out a terrible product so I guess it probably wasn't going to do great anyway. I wonder if they'll be leaving all that Christmas money to B101 every year.

No one (except for us) will care even the tiniest bit about the Holiday book "B101 vs. The Breeze" numbers but I imagine it's going to be an absolute bloodbath. Will be interesting to see where the two land 6 months from now. I can see B be getting 6- and 7-shares while The Breeze might settle into the 2-3 range and possibly add a little cash to iHeart's coffers.

AbrahamJSimpson said:

So you’re a target listener for 101. And you’re the proverbial outlier who isn’t in the ho-ho-holiday spirit, at least yet. Through whatever magical means, you hear 106 is throwing back in a whole different way, and check it out.

Now...is is all that likely you’re hearing something that’s going to keep you coming back? The entire temp and texture are a 180.

I’m not discounting that there are some folks who,stuck with 101 through inertia or lack of alternatives. But you now need to pry them loose from a solidified habit. That’s not an easy lift. Doable, but not necessarily easy.

This, so far, reminds me of those circa early 90s “Night Light” type shows before the rise of Delilah. Just all day long.

Click to expand...

iHeart must know they don't have a chance of "winning" anything here. There's no AC "war" happening. They don't think they're going to get a huge number of B's audience. While they're clearly interested making little digs at Entercom in as many markets as possible, this is just a change in hopes of making the cluster more profitable.

All that is to say that they know they're putting out a different product and aiming at a different group than B101.

Miguelito said:

iHeart must know they don't have a chance of "winning" anything here. There's no AC "war" happening. They don't think they're going to get a huge number of B's audience. While they're clearly interested making little digs at Entercom in as many markets as possible, this is just a change in hopes of making the cluster more profitable.

All that is to say that they know they're putting out a different product and aiming at a different group than B101.

Click to expand...

If the Breeze is able to funnel off some listeners from WBEB and some listeners from WOGL, knocking them down just enough, then WDAS-FM could inch closer to the top. iHeart doesn't expect the Breeze to knock B101.1 out of the format, but there's always a reason why companies do what they do.

DavidEduardo said:

That would be important only if clients bought 12+ numbers. They don't.

WDAS already has a huge selling point since they are in the top two or three in 25-54 book after book and they offer an audience that is hard to duplicate buying other stations. #1, #2, #3, #4 or whatever, WDAS-FM has a lock on an important market segment.

Click to expand...

So what do you make of the whole "Breeze" thing, bringing sleepy Air Supply and Peter Cetera and Christopher Cross tunes back for listeners who, for the most part, must be pushing 55 by now. AC listeners have preferred bright, uptempo, rhythmic music for close to 20 years now. Why is a major chain suddenly bringing back their parents' AC?

CTListener said:

So what do you make of the whole "Breeze" thing, bringing sleepy Air Supply and Peter Cetera and Christopher Cross tunes back for listeners who, for the most part, must be pushing 55 by now. AC listeners have preferred bright, uptempo, rhythmic music for close to 20 years now. Why is a major chain suddenly bringing back their parents' AC?

Click to expand...

I know this question wasn't directed at me but my thought on the resurgence of Soft AC is that there just isn't much else to do. From cluster to cluster, they're trying to dump the dead weight and simply improve profitability. They may not see this as the definitive long-term solution but until something better comes along, this is probably what they see as the best available option at the current time.